Abacos to Florida

4/29/16    To26 49.033N,    77 21.916W    Manjack Cay    16.2NM

Friday morning we awoke to another sunny day in paradise with the only downside being a lack of wind.  Light winds translate into an easy passage around the Whale (about 3NM from exit to entrance over a 12' shoal N of the cay), but the lack of wind means motoring opposed to sailing.  Guess we can't have everything.  And it's better than getting stuck like we did the first trip, waiting for the seas to abate enough for a safe passage.

We'd carefully spent all our Bahamian money before we took on fuel in Marsh Harbor where we didn't make the minimum of $50 to use a credit card.  Paying cash wasn't a big deal, but getting $9 Bahamian as change was irritating.  We considered using it as part of the payment for the mooring at Great Guana Cay or sharing a drink at Nipper's, but moved to anchor and skipped the drink.  Leonard decided we'd check out New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay where we'd have no problem spending it somewhere.

Interesting sign pointing to the beach at Green Turtle Cay

New Plymouth is another of the Loyalist founded towns in the Abacos, dating back to 1775, with narrow streets and small, well kept homes.  We packed a lunch to eat on the beach (one last beach walk) and went exploring.  The beach walk was a bit short thanks to high tide along an eroding shore - the sea wall by a small vacation development at Gilliam Bay was completed (had been under construction 2 years ago), and it appeared some of the beach sand had moved to form a shoal a bit further out.

Old Gaol in New Plymouth

Tom Sawyer might have painted this picket fence

We spent our $9 on ice cream on our way back through town.  The grocery store didn't place a  minimum on credit card charges, so we also picked up some local Mahi Mahi and a loaf of bread.  We listened to a conversation between some locals but had problems understanding much of it thanks to dialect and accent.  After a quick tour of town we headed back to the boat to move a bit further N where holding is better.  Much of the bottom off Green Turtle is a thin layer of sand over rock or grass making it difficult go set the anchor.

We'd left the outboard on the dinghy thinking we do a bit of exploring up by Manjack Cay.  We'd also noticed our speed has been slowly dropping, usually a sign of unwanted stuff colonizing the hull, so before we explored, Leonard worked at removing  some of the fuzzy stuff that had started to grow.  It's difficult to do with a mask and brush, but hopefully we'll get a small improvement for the time he spent scrubbing (I held a line for him to hang on to as he moved around the hull).

We did go for a short exploration.  The tide was low and falling, making it difficult to keep enough water under the dinghy to use the outboard.  What we didn't want to do was go ashore and come back to find even less water to float the boat, so we settled for a short walk along a beach on Crab Cay, closer the boat.  With more water, it's possible to explore several nearby small cays and beaches.  In preparation for  the next leg of the trip, we put the dinghy on the deck - no sense in losing any more speed by towing the dinghy.  It was a beautiful, star lit night.

Promise of another sunny day at Manjack Cay

As forecast, a bit of E wind arrived overnight, enough for sailing the next leg to Great Sale Cay where we plan to spend out last night in the Bahamas.  Listening to Chris Parker in the morning and getting a fresh GRIB file confirmed the arrival of a stronger cold front coming off the E coast in the Monday/Tuesday time frame.  Not great news, since it's apt to have enough squalls and convection for us to tuck in at Cape Canaveral rather than continuing up to the St. Mary's River.  While there are other inlets along the coast, not all are entry ports into the states, and some, like Daytona may require a trip to the airport.

After listening to several other boats on the VHF, we briefly considered running offshore with them Saturday which might allow us to get further N, but some blue (rain) was in the GRIB file north of Cap Canaveral on Monday afternoon and night night with shifting winds.  Rain wouldn't be bad (the boat needs a fresh water rinse), but we can't differentiate between showers and thunderstorms in the pre-frontal precipitation.  It is easier to tell when it's a dark blue line - that means nasty conditions, and will show up as the front approaches the coast.  Leonard decided to stick with the plan to stop at Cape Canaveral.